


signs of strife

by MiniNephthys



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-24
Updated: 2015-10-24
Packaged: 2018-04-27 23:09:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5068426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNephthys/pseuds/MiniNephthys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just because you're angry doesn't mean you have to fight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	signs of strife

The first person that Frisk is angry at in the Underground is Flowey. They can’t imagine anyone wouldn’t be: misleading someone and then trying to kill them is something that they expect would tick off anybody. The anger mixes with their fear, and they find that even after Toriel appears and rescues them, their heart is still pounding. She lets them have a moment to calm down before they go on.

They’re grateful for that much.

They’re grateful for the protection too, and the place to stay, but that doesn’t stop them from being a tiny bit mad over being kept in the ruins. They can’t stay here - shouldn’t she know that? This isn’t their home. It won’t ever be their home. They have to go back. She can’t trap them here, no matter how nice of a prison she makes it.

They’re still mad when they follow her to the door. They’re mad up until she gives them their ultimatum, when shock flushes out all the anger from them.

Frisk takes a moment between dodging fire magic to look at the toy knife in their hand, and then drops it. It clatters to the ground.

They’re not that mad. They’ll never be that mad.

Irritation wells up in them on the way to Snowdin. The whopee cushion doesn’t get more than a roll of the eyes, but the monsters attacking them have more difficult patterns than the ones in the Ruins, and Frisk finds themself saying every bad word they know (and then feeling bad about it if they use anything worse than ‘crap’). Despite that, they don’t want to hurt anyone. So they don’t.

The idea of attacking Papyrus doesn’t even cross their mind. Papyrus seems to be one of those people they just can’t get mad at. They don’t get mad when Papyrus ‘breaks up with them’.

They do get mad at Undyne. It’s hard not to. Undyne’s spears hurt and she chases them relentlessly. But they’ve come this far, and Undyne is only doing what she thinks is right, they know. So they keep running, without the breath to spare to use any bad words, and when Undyne collapses behind them they don’t hesitate to bring her water. They’re prepared to start running again if they have to, and relieved when it’s not necessary.

Frisk isn’t surprised when Undyne’s still mad at them when they and Papyrus come to visit. They would be. What does surprise them is how well Papyrus turns the situation around. The only casualty for getting them and Undyne to be friends is Undyne’s house.

They move on. It’s really hard not to get irritated when their phone beeps every few steps, and they have to try not to think badly of Alphys for that. It’s also hard not to get irritated about the show Alphys and Mettaton are putting on for them: even they can figure out what’s going on, and nobody likes being lied to. They understand why Alphys is doing it long before Mettaton explains it to them, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay.

They’re pretty mad at Muffet for trying to bake them into a pie for something they didn’t even do, but at least when she figures out she’s wrong she apologizes. They can forgive her.

Fighting Mettaton is relatively fun, for a given value of ‘fun’: it’s still somebody trying to kill them for ratings, but at least there’s posing involved.

The walk to Asgore’s throne room… they don’t know what to feel, and so they end up mostly numb all the way until they’re speaking to him, and then even until the barrier.

Anger doesn’t drive Frisk here. They know why he’s doing what he is, and why they’re doing what they have to. It’s only determination that keeps them going, and when the chance comes, that brings them to offer mercy.

Now, Flowey.

That’s rage.

Frisk doesn’t have the words for the kind of anger that fills them. They know they have to stop him, for all the wrong he’s done and for all the wrong he might do in the future, and because he took someone who could’ve cared about them away from them right in front of their faces-

And after a long time, it’s over, and they’re staring at a wilted flower telling them to kill him.

They’re still angry. They won’t lie and say they aren’t. They will be angry with Flowey for a long time.

But that feeling isn’t in charge of them. They make their own choices.

(Spare.)


End file.
